Walmart self-serve checks out of N.S.

By BILL POWER BUSINESS REPORTERPublished January 24, 2012 - 6:48pm Last Updated January 25, 2012 - 5:50am

Local manager: Service had ‘a lot of issues’

A customer unloads a cart at an express cashier booth at teh Walmart in Dartmouth Crossing on Tuesday. The store has adopted the use of express booths, replacing the self-serve cashier system. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

Self-service checkouts are disappearing at Walmart stores in Nova Scotia, with staff back at registers at most locations.

Express checkouts featuring voice and screen prompts for shoppers are replacing self-service ones at most stores.

“We’re glad to see the self-service go,” Kevin Cantwell, manager at the Dartmouth Crossing store said in an interview Tuesday.

A cluster of four self-service checkouts at the Dartmouth Crossing store disappeared just before the end of 2011 to be replaced by express checkouts manned by sales associates.

All regular checkouts remain in place.

The express service is intended to hasten the purchasing process for customers picking up fewer than 10 items.

“We were having a lot of issues with the self-checkouts. We had to have a monitor on hand all the time and we were dealing with a lot of customer confusion,” said Cantwell.

He has logged 38 years with the retail chain, including stints at Walmart stores around the province.

The self-service checkouts suffered excessive downtime due to technology and mechanical failures and are unlikely to reappear in the immediate future, at least in Nova Scotia, Cantwell said.

“Customers just do not like them.”

He said he could not speak about the situation across Canada, but he added that he has overseen the removal of the self-service checkouts at a number of Nova Scotia stores.

The new Walmart express checkout typically includes a cluster of six cash registers, with an associate at each machine when customer flow warrants.

“This is a similar system to what you will encounter at the bank or at (the Registry of) Motor Vehicles,” said Cantwell.

Customers get into a single line and wait for a voice and sign prompt to head to the appropriate register.

“It’s been very successful. It’s certainly a most effective way of tending to large numbers of customers who are picking up just a few items.”

Cantwell said he is glad to see the self-service checkouts eliminated.

He was not sure if all of Walmart’s self-service checkouts are being removed. Walmart officials in Toronto said they did not have details about the decline in popularity of self-service checkouts in their stores.

“A lot of people are uncomfortable with self-service and become frustrated, especially when other customers are waiting behind them,” said Cantwell.

Some Home Depot stores and Atlantic Superstore locations still use the self-service systems.